An Overview of Key Environmental Issues

The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation obliges the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation to “periodically address the state of the environment in the territories of the Parties.” To meet this obligation, the Secretariat has developed this report—The North American Mosaic: An Overview of Key Environmental Issues—with the support of environmental reporting experts from the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States.

This report describes a wide variety of environmental trends and conditions across North America. The breadth and diversity of the subject are astounding: from tiny invasive zebra mussels to global greenhouse gases measured by the teragram; from the last remaining vaquita porpoises to vast expanses of boreal forests and marine ecosystems; from invisible molecules of toxic chemicals to the all-too-visible smog and haze that blanket our cities from time to time.

That said, as the title indicates, this report is an overview. It is not a comprehensive treatment of environmental issues, many of which have been described elsewhere in much greater detail. The assemblage of environmental indicators in this report is far from complete; many measurements are not available at the national level, let alone in comparable forms across North America.